In a new extensive interview with Russian esports site GoodGame.ru, Quake Champions Executive Director Tim Willits revealed several important details for the game and its future in esports, including:

- Quake Champions will be featured in a tournament at QuakeCon 2017
- All future Champions will be free with a purchase of the full game
- Team gamemode 'Sacrifice' (and Duel) is being built for esports
- Ranked matchmaking will be for both Duel and team gamemodes
- Anti-cheat measures are being put into place with a third party organization
- Another classic map will make its return to QC
- Closed beta will start in the next few weeks

"So. Yes. We are committed to have a large e-sports presence. We can not announce any partnerships right now, but we're talking to all of the big esports companies, I mean we were just in Poland, Katowice IEM which is ESL's event. So we're definitely talking to the different companies, we want to make a game esports-friendly, spectacular, with different spectating features and we want to have a game modes that are esports-friendly, and we feel, after talking to a lot of pro players, that the one versus one (Duel) is something that is missing in the first-person esports scene. As well as one esports game mode which we're currently working on (Sacrifice) based on a feedback from some number of pro players. So yes, we very, you know, we very focused on e-sports. Quake has a long history of e-sports and we definitely want to work with a number of partners to ensure that we will have as many tournaments as possible."

Translator Artem 'DieZel' Volodin has made the interview in its entirety available for ESReality below:

goodgame.ru: So let's start then! Very first question is about PAX East 2017. PAX is the first event where Quake Champions was shown so massively, any participant could take a seat and play Quake. What is the feedback from the community?

Tim Willits: We've brought the game to PAX East this weekend which was a lot of to us. The overall feedback that I heard was that: "It is still Quake!", which is really important to us, because we want it to ensure, that we stay true the the Quake's, you know, the spirit and core. So the people had sat down and said "Wow, movement is so good!", "Wow, weapons are so familiar!", all that cores are like Quake. And we have got many responses, and you can see it all online, like "Champions did not change the way that you play", that "it is still Quake", it was good for people to see, you know, how the Champions' abilities added to overall game experience. So, I've been very happy with this feedback from the show this weekend.

gg.ru: Okay, very nice. Now you have the feedback from the PAX participants, what will you advantage with it?

Willits: There are some things we want to adjust. A lot of feedback that we want to take action on actually came from some of the pro players, that played it. Like for instance, we had a game at Katowice, Poland, about two weeks ago, and we had a number of pro esports players who played it. And some of the feedback from them was like, you know, they wanted some adjustments to a team game modes, they gave us some very specific responses about movement techniques, they wanted weapon switching to be faster, so they gave helpful thing we wanted to address.

And then, in the next few weeks, we are going to the closed beta, and it will be a small closed beta, then we will have able people to play the game for longer that just at the show, and hopefully we can gather more feedback and make changes to the game. We are committed that we are listening to our fans and we are trying to make the game as best as possible.

gg.ru: Okay, that is very nice. So. The closed beta is very close, right?

Willits: Yes, yes, yes! If you go to quakechampions.com and sign up, we should invite you with some other people in a few weeks. So stay tuned, it is coming ip closer. But, remember, it is gonna be small and it gonna be growing. And we will kepp inviting people because we want to test the infrastructure, we want to test a backend, we want to test a game modes and the Champions balance. So we will grow closed beta over time.

gg.ru: One more little question about closed beta. Can you say how many people already signed up for the beta?

Willits: Oh yeah. I actually have that number, but it is a lot. We've been very happy of signed number, it was an amazing for us. So we definitely have enough people for all our plans on beta. As I said we want to test a backend, we want to test the server integrity, will servers crash when many people get connected to. We want to test progression, the balance of the Champions make sure that not one Champion is more powerful. We will definitely grow closed beta numbers over time, but we've very happy we have so many signs so far.

gg.ru: So could you throw a bit of light about range of signed people - is it hundreds or thousands or even tens of thousands? How many?

Willits: Oh. again, I will not talk about numbers. But I will tell you this. Guess what country after the United States has more beta signups than another country in the world? I will tell you. Russia.

gg.ru: We all are waiting for the closed beta till Quake Champions was annonuced for the first time and Russia has a huge quake community, even bigger than in US. Okay, now I'm going to ask you a set of big questions about the plans of Quake Champions and mostly about e-sports plans. Will Quake Champions be promoted to the third-party e-sports organizations like ESL or whatever, or it will more involed to the Quakecon and related events?

Willits: So. Yes. We are committed to have a large e-sports presence. We can not announce any partnerships right now, but we're talking to all of the big e-sports companies, I mean we were just in Poland, Katowice IEM which is ESL's event. So we're definitely talking to the different companies, we want to make a game esports-friendly, spectacular, with different spectating features and we want to have a game modes that are esports-friendly, and we feel, after talking to a lot of pro players, that the one versus one (Duel) is something that is missing in the first-person esports scene. As well as one esports game mode which we're currently working on (Sacrifice) based on a feedback from some number of pro players. So yes, we very, you know, we very focused on e-sports. Quake has a long history of e-sports and we definitely want to work with a number of partners to ensure that we will have as many tournaments as possible.

gg.ru: So you've said about competitve game modes and ranked matches, could you please giva a little more information about. What the modes will be?

Willits: You will be able to play ranked matches. Both TDM and duel modes, and we have a new e-sports mode called "Sacrifice" which one guy of pro e-sports players played at Quakecon and fold it said we need to change it at all (hehe). So, actually we work on the game mode based on what pro players told us to do. That mode is an objective-based gamemode. And we hope pro players will play "Sacrifice" and duels. And classic TDM for sure.

gg.ru: What about automatic matchmaking. If I, for example, want to play rated "Sacrifice" match, will I have the option to find an appropriate match automatically?

Willits: We're always and continously improving matchmaking over time, but the first you have to do is a pick a region where you playing in. And then, when you're going to the matchmaking system it will find other players with around you skill, and based on region information where are you playing from it will find a server for you. And initially in
closed beta you will pick a region then matchmaking could start work. Make sense?

gg.ru: Yeah, anything is pretty clear. The next question is about maps and gameplay. The Blood Covenant, for expample, is a reproduced Campgrounds from Quake III. Will we see any other well-known map from previous series of Quake like Blood Run or maybe Aerowalk?

Willits: Oh, that is a great question! So... So, yes! It should be surprise, but yes. We have another classic well-known map that in coming down. I won't tell you which map it is, but I know it is the one you're very familiar with. We have an another duel map that people would be happy to play on.

gg.ru: Nice! Pretty nice, I'm glad to hear it. Any previous Quake has its own physics and gameplay, like, for example, Quake World has bunnyhop, Quake III has strafejumping, etc. And that options any time affect the maps: its design and size, propotions. In that new Quake the Champions have a different set of abilities including different movement styles and speeds. How this problem is being solved?

Willits: That is a very good question. As you said the Champions have a different move styles, for example, Anarki has more air control as Quake World and Ranger has more strafejumping like Quake III. So it is more challenging with the maps. I think, you know, current version of q3dm6, the Blood Covenant that we have, there are some place which Anarki or Slash could reach easier that Clutch can do it. That is a part of playing most Champions. Part of the strategy and a part of the design. We've tried to make a map playable for everyone, but there are number of features that one characters can do and other characters can not do. For example. Q3dm6 railgun area and the bridge. If you're playing Nyx, yeah, you can actually jump, then use an ability "wall-run" and reach the railgun. And get back same route. But you're playing Snorlag you have to use rocketjump to reach the same place. And if you're plaing someone like Anarki you can just accelerate with air control and fly over gap from bridge to railgun. So, based on Champion you're playing for you have to know all options and strategies.

gg.ru: Will we see Quake Champions contest at upcoming Quakecon?

Willits: Oh, yes. Sure. We are definetely want to have a tournament at Quakecon and I've said it at last year's Quakecon. We will talk more about it soon, but yes, we will have tournament at Quakecon with Quake Champions.

gg.ru: Ok, we're all waiting for the event. Now I have my personal set of very technical questions about how the game actually works. If you know, I'm hosting set of Quake Live servers at Saint-Petersburg and Amsterdam, and I am full of curiosity of how game is working.

Willits: Oh, sure. I am not so techician, but I think I am able to answer you. Go on.

gg.ru: Will there a community-managed dedicated servers? I mean can I run my own server of the Quake Champions game?

Willits: Initially we will run the servers. We will run it to be sure that we have servers in the right territories, it is important for us. Because progression is important, because cheating is important, because free-to-play nature is important. So we will actually have to run the servers. You can create a custom game, and you can invite people to play on, but official servers will run and need to be managed by us.

gg.ru: So, make me sure: I will not be able to run "official matchmaking server", because all official infrastructure is under your management, but I am able to run a custom server and play with friends without being rated.

Willits: Yes-yes. We will run doze of matchmaking servers but you will be able to create your own custom one. Yes.

gg.ru: What is "120Hz gameplay" actually? I saw you interview about Rage couple years ago and you said that almost any game runs at 30Hz, but Rage is designed to run at 60Hz, now we're talking about 120Hz. Do you really mean that that quantity of Hertzs is real frequency of game world is being updated? Or it is something esle?

Willits: Oh. The Hertz. So, there is FPS and there is Hertz. And Hertz is a speed at which game makes a decisions. In Quake Champions we are targeting at 120Hz with uncapped frame rate. So game's responsiveness will be as fast as possible, so I believe that how faster your Hertz are that better gameplay experience it will be.

gg.ru: So, does that mean that server will 120 times per second send gamestate packets to the client or is it the client's refresh rate?

Willits: Internet will chuck if you set server's refresh rate to 120Hz. Sure it is on the client's side. It is responsiveness of the client.

gg.ru: What is the very common system requirements for the client side of the Quake Champions? I mean, for exmple, what videocard I must have to feel as full as it is that "120Hz responsivness".

Willits: Well. We haven't quite worked with optimization yet. You know, right now we're focusing on general features, balancing. We haven't started focusing on optimizations. So we really don't have that information. But. We do understand that we have to make it as accessible as possible. So we do our best to run it on a most machines, so when we will have that information with system requirements we will definitely release it.

gg.ru: Actually I have a last one question for today. So, Tim, what about possible cheaters in Quake Champions? You're introducing it as free-to-play, so everyone could play it. You're introducing it as competitive e-sports game with massive e-sports presence. Cheaters will be there. How to prevent cheating or how to fight against them?

Willits: So. We know about the problem and we taking it in the two focused approach. First one is we're trying to move a lot of critical decision making from the client to the server. And then we're cooperating with a service, we haven't announced that yet, but I can tell you that we're working with another companies, also helping us with the anti-cheat. One part is the game site developers working with a company that helping us to make an anti-cheat services, we haven't announced that partnership but we will do it soon.

gg.ru: And in the end of our chat let we discuss the business model of Quake Champions.

Willits: Yes, sure. So game is free-to-play. In free version you're able to play only with Ranger. There is also Champions Pack buying which means buying all the features. Also you may buy single champions for a limited time range or even forever for real money or in-game currency. So you can just download it and start with Ranger or buy features.

gg.ru: Actually, keep me clear, if I buy full Champions Pack does it means that I will have an access to all the Champions even introduced in future?

Willits: Yes. If you're buying the Champions Pack in the very beginning of the game you are getting all the Champions already released in the game, or that will be released as base of the game. So best option for everybody is to buy the Champions Pack. You will get the Champions!

Seems good to be honest. Simple, easy to follow, but a decent amount of strategy involved, hopefully enough to make it interesting from a spectator POV. Biggest problem with TDM is the meta can be overwhelming.

People are getting hyped over the recent PAX videos more than the information. Videos showing that the movement and gun play has similarities to the Quake games... which I think everyone was worried about before.

Was thinking the same yesterday, its easier to cap, follow and understand. Its a really easy concept, go get the central flag and bring it to your base. 0-0 super defensive matches are ctf worst enemy. With 1 central flag, it becomes much more dynamic.

Literally the worst game mode in existence. As a casual mode it would be acceptable but making it competitive is utterly pointless.

After all the PAX hype it would be very disappointing if they neglected TDM and CTF while desperately trying to lure new players in by concentrating on a casual mode no one gives a shit about watching or playing.

i had hoped for some more creativity by game designers for their competitive team-mode instead of basically putting tdm out there with a small domination aspect.
it will probably be played different than QL tdm, due to different stacks on champs and speed limits(ffs), so i won't give my hopes up yet!

Its a good chooice. If there was a TDM, CTF or any other team mode that has been played past 20 years in quake would make new players quit. So I think taking this advantage of old quakers is a good thing.

Dude, your panties are all wet for a game with heroes where one can see enemies through walls (is zhu ever going to get an apology now that there's a wh in quake? lol), teleport when/where they want, negating the need to execute movements in critical situations, and one that fucking body checks opponents. Wouldn't surprise me if they release a hero who's ability is autoaim for "x" seconds.

If you're a fan of this QC, I don't think you have any room to talk about what is and isn't quake. Cause to some of us, QC definitely is not quake. It's almost as bad as when people were trying to justify praising shootmania.

I don't think we should demonize the abilities as the symbols of change. They look wa-aaay weaker than the weapons, while in OW they are way stronger than weps.

What bothers personally me most; I don't even know how will we fucking aim in QC when its such a colourful mess as it looks now. All these particles, effects, textures... tis a very, very visual-heavy environment.

And, yeah, its not the same. Its not even "Quake" title anymore, its another series.

But still.

Using shitty analogy, thats like Humbert Humbert met his grown-up Lolita, changed dramaticaly by becoming adult and pregnant from another man...

Yet, he tried to take her away.

Because she wasn't the same but there was still something from her, that very girl, ya know.

You just gonna need to choose what satisfies you most, playing new quake-like game in 2017 or whine how great it was in shweet, shweet, year of 2000. One and only.

I liked unreal championship... and there was a "comp mode" too.. where u have the normal HP Speed Loadout and guess what... the most player played the Championsetting. and i loved to play Torch with more DMG Shockgun..

In QC im looking forward to Slash with slides... at least it let us play all together...

if u like PQL/CPMA u choose the champion..
if u like VQ3 u choose a champion that fits it most
i like Q4 slides so i will play slash..

i think this game can be great if it has a propper matchmaking and brings the fun we have with the old games.

ppl will watch whats they like to play... a CA player will watch CA, a TDM player watch TDM and so on.

i think even Football is boring to watch, the reason why ppl watch it is curz they know the game and played it at least once in her life, and of curz the most part is the media and the ppl around us that force us to watch at least the "weltmeisterschaft".

at this point we dont know how the new mode will be.. but at least they try something new.. or better, i hope they try something new.

Hmm, actually I am not sure at all bout the future champions being free when you buy the Champions Pack.

The translation says : Yes. If you're buying the Champions Pack in the very beginning of the game you are getting all the Champions already released in the game, or that will be released as base of the game.

The way I understand it is that the champion pack will allow us to play the already declared champions and the one that will be available in the base game when it comes out (those they still didn't present). Yet, if they decide to add champions later on, nothing garantees that they will be free (most games have paying DLC anyway, even Q3 Team Arena wasn't free back in the days actually).

If they give new champions to paid members as they come out, there will be two categories of player: those who have only ranger and those who have all champions.

If you have to pay again for each new champion, there will be many more categories depending on which champions a player has bought.

Not having all the champions may put you or your team at a disadvantage if later things like team composition or counter picking become important, or if in competitions there are rules about picking and banning which champions are allowed.

Not having all the champions may put you or your team at a disadvantage if later things like team composition or counter picking become important, or if in competitions there are rules about picking and banning which champions are allowed.

I think Sacrifice is key for QC to evolve long-term and feel new and refreshed - and not just end up as Quake Live 2 with better graphics. From What i hear (ignoring the esr whiners ofc) Sacrifice sounds great for both players and spectators. Let's face it, Both tdm, ca and ctf suck to watch - unless you play it.
Thanks for all your efforts ID. And for actually bringing something new to Quake while sticking to it's roots as Much as realisticlly possible.

Most games aren't entertaining to spectate unless you have played them.

Sports are different only because we all have bodies, so we have an idea about what is easy to do with them and what is hard.

I can watch dota and hear the commentators going wild over some amazing thing a player is supposed to be doing, but I can't appreciate the skill because I haven't played the game and don't know what is going on.

That said, I've played those team modes you mentioned, and I still don't enjoy watching them as much as duel.

Quake duel is probably the easiest competitive game to enjoy spectating with a little understanding of the game.

If Sacrifice is indeed a form of point control mode, then all is good imo. Bland, but good. Quake CTF has always been needlessly convoluted. They tried to fix things with Team Arena but people didn't like the changes.

Certainly in QL Domination sucks for spectators I thought, there is just too much going on with multiple capture points changing hands really quickly, the annoying scoring from them and with everyone spawning with some weapons everyone dies far too quickly all of the time. Voice coms are going to be chaos on top of the in game prompts, get c, get b, get c, get a, get b ugh.

TDM is easy to follow, all that matters is the obvious enemy gunned down and the easy to follow score. Good powerup runs are great to watch, you can appreciate the set up to take them as well, and some teams are great to hear on coms if the broadcaster can tap into them if they wish.

CTF is easy to follow and following a flag run or retreival is so easy to understand and its just great action for any spec a lot of the time, a fantastic focal point for comentator excitement too just like goals in football etc. If it's too chaotic to watch attackers being mown down spec defenders doing a good job instead until there is a powerup or flag to follow, and again voice coms can be great to hear at times.

From what I heard sacrifice is undergoing major changes since it was last played, if it was like domination before I really hope they do change it a lot if its going to be their team esport focus.

I suspect they'll conform any event to what is actually most played after the first 6 months to a year though.

It quite obviously won't be the Domination we know. I'm expecting TDM but the score isn't determined by kills but by how areas are controlled. Not sure why everyone's whining about it, it sounds great. I wouldn't have been against seeing the primary focus on CTF either though.

TDM is great to play, but even if it is not hard to follow, POV changes can be very annoying if you don't have control over them.

I always get the suspicion there is some other POV out there I'd rather be following.

Without some kind of bird's eye view of the map, you don't know what all the players are doing, whereas in a duel you know at least half of what is going on at any given time.

Also, deaths and frags aren't as significant in TDM since they're kinda happening all the time. This is only really exciting for me when there isn't much time on the clock, and there is a small frag difference, and even then, you might not get to see the frags happen if you're on the wrong POV.

I thought in the past about buffering giving broadcasters plenty of time to select the best view, but though delaying streams also helps prevent cheating, it's generally a bit frowned on to have anything less than as-live-as-possible by broadcasters it seems, but maybe..

Code flagging events like a PU or flag pickup is useful to have but I wouldn't want it dominating, it would certainly work better with a buffer though because you'd be able to stop it swapping to them if it was only briefly held.

My favorite TDM casting style is following one player from spawn to death for one or few cycles. It gives you a feeling of a "story" like in duel and lets you appreciate full spectrum of player's TDM skill. His survival skill, awareness, positioning, item management.

Yes, you may be missing out on important events around the map, but then it's a casters' job to explain what's going on in the meta game, just like players understand it using all the information available to them. Moreover "out of sight out of mind", you're not really gonna regret it as a spectator (unless you're someone trying to learn TDM who watches with sound muted and complains that stream cfg doesn't exactly match yours, you should just watch demo instead then).

On the other hand followkiller casting gives me this "stream of frags" feeling, especially on faster maps, and I can't keep attention for more than few minutes nowadays.

one where you got bars lined up under each other, on the left (Team A players) and the right edge (Team B players) of the screen- one for each player, filled according to current health and armor status. name written in it. similiar to some cs-spec huds I guess. maybe also other information like weapon(s) currently held. definitely a symbole for flagcarriers, quadcarriers etc.
then, and that's where it gets interesting, a free mouse and the ability to click one of the player bars in order to switch to their pov.
alternatively one could also select players without the mouse though (with arrow keys + space to select f.e., or have binds to switch to the different bars (like 1st bar-gy on the left f1, second one f2,... a s d f g for ppl on the right.)

I think this would allow next level casting and everything needed. Not sure how it could be realized though, cause with current hud-system this is not possible I guess. However, it's a new game not released yet, ppl can still find a way to implement this. if they're a ambitious and talented company they could find a way to do it, even if it means sth has to be changed or re-written. If

What about a duel mode with champions? Not 100% how to implement but something along the lines of. Each player picks a champion that I hidden to the other untill the game starts. Then gets 2 swaps (if they choose). First chance is after 3:20 (assuming would be after a death, otherwise swaps while alive could result in a - 1 score or something) then 6:40. Or do you think that would just result in the first person to change getting countered after each choice?

Well, I think some influential people do read at least some of what is written here---people like SyncError and probably some of the testers. I also expect they want feedback from people in the closed beta, who may be influenced.

actually this post made me want to check when i signed up .. 17 Dec 2001 . Hah , didnt even know that i was still using same account :p

I do beleive that id is keeping track of the community, but take the words of the general public very lightly .

As it is now we cant decide anything what will be in QC and its silly for most of us to suggest anything. We just have to wait and see.

They seem to take the pro players more seriously then they have ever done before , its a good thing . And for this im sure they are in direct conversations , not forums .

But synceror do know some ppl in the community like demon,yakumo and nvc just to name a few that posts on ESR, and these thoughts will be taken into consideration.

I will enjoy this game , whatever the modes will be . And if its anything like control points of overwatch, its easy to follow and quite fun . Cart pushing tho .. no .

Actually if you think about it , TDM is all about controling certain areas of the map to get a win . soooo kiiindoff the same , just more easy to pick up and understand for new players, which is actually very important today , remember, we are all in the future of 2017

Most of your posts on this website are at present in reply to me on the thread you linked to. You know, the one where you admitted you are aliasing and you don't trust people here enough to reveal your real alias.

Less than 1% of my total posts on this website are replies to you.

Yet apparently, its me with the butt hurt as you continue to link to the thread where I consumed you so badly, a thread where you replied to me initially when I wasn't even talking to you.

A thread where you're still talking about it in another thread; yet its me whose butt hurt.

I'm pretty sure the people here don't need your biased summary of events. They can read the thread themselves to decide what to believe, which is something I've enabled them to do by providing the link.

3) I will admit I was off about your post ratio to me (trivial), it seemed a lot longer, but with 139 posts (at present) it clearly shows a sizeable chunk of your total replies are to me on that thread.

Bottom line is.

A) You lie about who you really are. FACT.
B) You replied to me in that thread first without me speaking to you. FACT.
C) You are still talking and linking to that thread first. FACT.
D) You told this community you don't trust them enough to share who you are. FACT.

You're 37 yrs old with hardly any verifiable gaming history, I don't think that's right. Hey man, you exude so much mistrust and deception, I reckon that's fair dinkum.

I'm not spoiling this thread because you didn't like how the last one went for you. If you want to be a ghost, then don't expect to be treated like a person. Expect the mistrust and duplicity that powers you to be mirrored. Nobody cares who you are IRL, but if you can't even have some kind of verified gaming history by 37, then you is a bad egg :)

You're only making it easier for people to accept your side of the story. To say you are not biased is a joke.

I stand by my words. But please don't take them out of context.

Even the words you have cherry picked from that thread, I don't find particularly damning.

I remain unapologetic for keeping my real-life identity unknown on this forum. Online privacy is valuable to me, and I'm not going to compromise it for the sake of proving my trivial claims that I have a history of playing id software games that precedes my ESR join date.

A) If using a 6-year-old user name on a website that cannot easily be traced back to my real-life identity is "lying", then I am lying.

You've been here with that alias since 2013, lie about who you are and have less than 150 posts, at least half of which came in the last few days.

Its safe to say I have a proven history of commenting on ESR over a long period of time, over 10 years before you even joined, and 10's of thousands of comments Vs your 142. Yet I'm following you. Haha.

If your gaming alias defines who you are IRL, then you would have put that information out there to begin with.

Again, it doesn't add up why you're so secretive.

Either its a ruse to pretend you're something more than you are because you alias and history show a ghost like existence.

Or you've done something bad IRL and the SEO goes back to something you don't want us to know.

Perhaps you cheated at quake and want to turn over a new leaf.
Perhaps you slept with a minor and made the front page of google.
Perhaps you sold drugs.
Perhaps you slept with a horse.

The simple truth is, we don't know.

But, what we do know is, its very probable you're hiding to the degree you are for something far more sinister than simply not wanting people to know who you are.

I'm not going to have a debate about the debate here when the original debate exists in the other thread for anyone who cares, to read first-hand. I'm not going to duplicate it by addressing your points a second time here.

I didn't lie about who I am unless you think everyone who uses a username that cannot be connected to their real-life identity is lying about who they are.

Lying is deliberately saying something that is not true usually with the intent to mislead. I have not done that.

Besides, you have no entitlement to know anything about me.

Post counts are irrelevant.

You are a nobody in quake but a big shot on ESR forums.

The simple truth is you don't know anything about anyone you know nothing about. Who would have thought?!

Do you have panic attacks when you meet people for the first time and cannot garner a wealth of information about them with a google search?

Do you honestly expect people to believe that it is a coincidence you showed up in this thread to attack me on the basis of my ESR registration date just after we had a debate about the relevance of ESR registration dates in another thread?

You have in essence approached and interacted with a demographic of people (many of whom under the age of 18) with whom you're behaving in an overly secretive and suspicions manner which is not indicative or natural for a man of your age on a small, enthusiasts website which generally revolves around one series of games.

There are plenty of people who don't say their real name, but have at least built up a profile under an alias which is common in the gaming world.

You don't even have that luxury, so its perfectly valid for people to speculate why this might be the case. If that speculation is negative, that's because plenty of bad people behave just like you are doing now, to scam, or sleep with kids., or those who have been busted for hacking against players and want a way back in.

So you can come to the party all you want, and start interacting with people, but when you turn around and act like a creep, those people are well within their rights to think the worse of you as a safety precaution.

If you treat people with such mistrust and contempt by default, don't be surprised when its mirrored.

While revealing basic credentials is no guarantee of good character, its better than what you offer.

Besides, I've used this name for six years, and most people in the Australian and New Zealand quake scene will have heard of me.

This isn't about protecting minors or any of the delicate souls on this website who might be damaged by my posting comments here. It is about the fact you made a debate about the relevance of ESR registration dates personal by attempting to attack my credibility, which I never even relied on.

By the way, those people under the age of 18 will be the very ones creating new accounts on this website, i.e. the ones for which you seem to have the most disdain, for corrupting the sanctity of your old school online community.

If you did any kind of research into it, you would find a better quality of quake players among accounts listed earlier on in ESR's reign.
Ofc there will be exceptions, but generally speaking its true.

My main point is, you claim to purposely hide your real gaming alias.

You therefore deserve to be treated with suspicion.
Especially when in the last 3-4 days your post count is that of a committed troll.

About 4-5 days ago you had 70 posts since 2013, you've doubled that in 4-5 days. That's insanely out of proportion.

If you don't want to believe I played quake before that, that's your business.

I never claimed to be a "better quality of quake player".

Why do you seem to think people are obliged to leave a searchable trail for you to follow? If you meet Joe Bloggs at your knitting club, do you go home and do a google search on him so that you have him at an advantage, or do you just talk to him?

If Joe Bloggs relates to you information about his past regardless of how trivial it is, do you

(1) believe it is a lie until he provides proof, giving him no trust whatsoever;
(2) operate as if it is the truth, giving him a level of trust depending on how much harm he can cause with that trust;
(3) believe it blindly and trust him completely?

Generally, I'd choose (2). You seem to prefer (1).

If I'm trolling, then so are you.
But really, trolling is about provoking others to get amusement from the fallout, usually by pretending to hold positions you don't actually hold. I'm being completely sincere. Are you?

As for provocation, you threw the first stone, in this thread and the other one. Yes, I replied to you first, but no, expressing an opinion that conflicts with your own is not a provocation.

Telling you those could provide a means for you, or others reading, to determine my "real life name".

So if you've used this alias for 6 years ago and have no problem using it, but the other aliases you used could be used to reveal who you are, then the problem you have is you are admitting your more significant aliases are out there and are more significant than your existing one as they would not reveal who you are otherwise, but this one, you have no problem using and try to tell us its been around for years.

My point is not whether you alias, my point is, you've admitted to using other aliases in the past which by definition of revealing your real name are more significant than this one and don't want people to know them when asked.

You said you're 37, captain one on ESR takes you back to 34, even if it was 6 years old, that takes you back to 31, way past a typical peak gaming age.

Which means you're got a massive gap from 2011-10/09 etc and its obvious those other aliases reveal that.

But like I said, if you only want to tell part of the story then its fine, but people should know that because its suspect.

I don't care anymore, as you've been unable to escape the original logic and keep talking about later parts of it, which is a bit like blaming me for punching you in the face AFTER you spat in my face for no reason. And then crying that I hit you, and ignoring why I hit you.

If you do that, you can be the victim for pretty much anything.

The root cause here is you're admitting a past more significant than the recent one by definition of that revealing who you are, vs this one that does not.

That's my problem with you, and you're never going to man up and acknowledge it so its pointless.

If you won't tell peeps who your real aliases are (which are more than casual aliases as you admit they could reveal your real name), then people should at least know you're not who you say who you are and consider what you might be instead of treating you as a peer.

I was not claiming it is the only alias I have ever used, so I am not contradicting any of my previous statements.

It is my real gaming alias in the sense that any quake player who is in any way relevant to my life knows me by this name and this name alone.

Even if I told you earlier aliases, they would be completely useless to you. You won't find google hits for them---because as you keep pointing out, I am a nobody and always have been.

If they were completely meaningless to anyone who may read this ever, I'd happily share them. But that is not the case, there is the potential they can be used to dox me.

I'd even share them with you in a private channel if I trusted you enough to keep them secret, which I don't.

Besides, there is only risk and no gain in doing so.
Having Jamerio of ESR think I'm a stand-up guy ain't really a big enough gain, sorry.

The only reason my old aliases were brought up is that you wanted proof of my claim that I had a history playing id software games since long before my ESR registration date.

Telling you my aliases won't prove that, so I don't see the point. To prove that, I would have to put you in contact with real-life friends who knew of my gaming habits from that era. It is laughable if you think I'm going to do that.

The reason my old aliases have a small potential to reveal my identity and my current alias does not is that I interacted with the community in real life to a small degree using my old aliases, which is not true of my current alias since as I got older, my interest in attending LANs and the like diminished.

I don't consider my old aliases "more significant" because my reputation on this alias is bigger, more current, and more relevant to people in my life than the reputation associated with any ancient aliases.

I don't know what my age has to do with anything whatsoever.

Yes, I made this alias when I first joined QL in 2011. If QL's records were still up, you'd be able to confirm that very easily. Maybe there are some people in AUS/NZ quake community with eidetic memories who can associate the first time they saw my name with a date.

"I don't care anymore, as you've been unable to escape the original logic and keep talking about later parts of it, which is a bit like blaming me for punching you in the face AFTER you spat in my face for no reason. And then crying that I hit you, and ignoring why I hit you."

Show me where I spat in your face, bro. I was completely civil with you from the beginning and continued to be so even after you started with your armchair psychoanalysis of me.

If that's a good enough outcome for you, then stop casting aspersions on me that I need to defend myself from.

You been here since 2013. Hardly a first meeting.
Millions of people shag on first dates, and you can't share a verifiable history of your gaming past after 3 years. Sounds legit.

Just wanted to know why at 37 yrs old you have such a massive black hole in your gaming past and when asked on it you clam up.

The irony of all this is, you were the one who got upset when I suggested that join date on ESR is generally a sign of a lack of pedigree in the quake scene and then kinda proved it with an account which at that time had about 20 posts a year on it, but your real issue is you've done over 3 years worth of posts in as many days, that's why in conjunction with you admitting other aliases, plus being unable to share any verifiable proof on your gaming past beyond a few years and writing thousands of words trying to defend it, that I think you're hiding something which you're not happy about.

You have the right to anonymity, but that also gives people the right to speculate if you choose to hide such basic information about your profile and gaming past.

It's a first meeting in the sense that it is the first time I have ever talked to you. Pretty straightforward.

I shared my history that was relevant to that discussion.
It wasn't "verified" for reasons I have told you ad nauseam.

I have no interest in shagging with you.

My age is irrelevant.
Not being able to google search me doesn't mean there is a black hole.
I never clammed up. I just didn't give you the information you wanted, for reasons I have mentioned ad nauseam.

I didn't get upset about your views on ESR registration dates at any point. I simply disagreed with them and told you the reasons why. It's all there in the other thread.

I don't have an "issue". You have an issue with me.
So now that you're done trying to profile me based on my ESR registration date, you're trying to look at my rate of posting.

I told you already: my interest in commenting was invigorated by the QC closed beta announcement.

What was I supposed to be commenting on before? Fizzle's monologues?
As entertaining as they were, I didn't feel the need to contribute. Besides, I didn't even log in to the site at that point, so there was a barrier to posting.

My edit for your edit:
I don't really know how many times you have to say you think I'm hiding some ugly secret.
This has been addressed already.

Your word means nothing because you've invested nothing on this site, for all we know you could be a 60 year old tranny.

Denial of guilt is usually an admission of guilt when someone is acting so cagey and secretive over something so small.

You had a problem with me suggesting a lack of history on ESR + lack of pedigree, you've proven this theory is 100%, for you.

Until you can point to something which is logged chronologically and could not be faked, then you deserve every ounce of suspicion and doubt that you hide you're hiding something negative, and certianly no pedigree chum for you.

My words mean nothing to you. You don't know what they mean for other people.

Since I haven't read all 25,000 of your posts on this site and individually verified all the claims you've made about yourself, I pretty much know nothing about you as well. And if I'm to operate as you do, everything you've said is a lie until proven otherwise.

Denial of guilt is never admission of guilt.
If that were not the case, I could accuse you of raping babies, and then when you say that is not true, I could use it as evidence that it is. I could go around all over the site spreading malicious lies about you, and if you dared to protest, it would mean what I said is true.

"My words mean nothing to you. You don't know what they mean for other people."

Actually, its pretty universal that people who hide basic credentials about themselves are usually up to more harm than good.
Lets not forget, this is not about asking for your name, this is your gaming alias, the paranoia came from you thinking people were going to go around trying to find out who you were IRL.

As for your final failure...

"I could accuse you of raping babies, and then when you say that is not true, I could use it as evidence that it is."

That's not the same thing, because I never asked you if you rape babies, I merely asked why a 37 yr old man on a small community website about gaming hides his gaming past so ferociously and expects to be treated without suspicion? you have given valid justification to doubt you, of course I will entertain reasons why people commonly hide, these are outcomes of how you choose to behave. My expectations of you are in tone of the website and are merely more than basic forms of human interaction, but look at the extremes you are trying to go to to justify you behaving as you are?

You say its because your other aliases could be used to define you IRL, and you also say.

"What you call caginess and secretiveness is just common sense for me."

Yet if that were true, then your other online aliases would never have linked back to your real life. Oh BTW, you admitted to being cagey.

There is a difference between casually browsing a website, noticing a guy called Jamerio regularly going on long-winded rants, and finding it amusing, and actually knowing anything about that person, especially if I am to use the same criteria for the verification of your claims as you use on me.

Absolutely none of the claims you have made that I have read have been verified in the way you want my claims verified.

I don't care what you THINK is a universal principle. This is just more of Jamerio's favourite habit of profiling people by getting the smallest amount of information about them and extrapolating a doomsday scenario out of it.

The point of what I was saying is that not everyone thinks as you do, so you can just speak for yourself from now on instead of acting as some sort of ambassador for ESR.

If you want to talk about paranoia, I could say you are paranoid for displaying the level of suspicion you do---all because someone was unwilling to prove that he had a history of playing id software games predating his ESR registration date.

The reasons for not giving you the information you want have been discussed repeatedly, and I'm not going over them again.

As for the raping babies example, it is precisely the same thing inasmuch as it is an ACCUSATION you have to DENY. If what you say is true---denial of guilt is evidence of guilt---then when you deny ANY accusation of ANY type, it means you are actually guilty of that accusation.

This is basic stuff.

If you want to be suspicious, then be suspicious. I don't care. What you are trying to do is make other people suspicious of me, who have not read the entirety of our conversation (in this thread and the other one) and may actually give more weight to your words than they are due.

There are no extremes here, just repeatedly replying to someone who will never get it.

"Yet if that were true, then your other online aliases would never have linked back to your real life."

The way I deal with strangers on forums on the internet is quite different to the way I deal with friends in real life.

"Oh BTW, you admitted to being cagey."

You must be pretty thick if you can't see I was putting that word in quotes because it is the word you used and not the word I would use to describe the same behaviour.

I am reluctant to give information owing to caution, but "cagey" is a negative word to describe such a person, and I wouldn't use it to describe myself.

Just stick to the points of the argument rather than continually congratulating yourself on your imagined debating prowess.

For a long while now, you've merely been rehashing the same points.

Yes, you think I'm highly likely to be a terrible person hiding some crime in the past because I won't give you information you think you could use to dig up dirt on me.
How many different ways do you want to say that?

The only reason we're even talking about this is that I disagreed with you in the other thread, and you wanted to attack the person rather than the argument. Whatever my motivation for posting an opinion that disagreed with yours, it does not change the validity of what I said since I was not relying on any credibility or authority in my argument.

Whatever you say about me, I have been here a long enough time to be able to say without doubt, I have quake 3 demos, quake 4 demos (mostly losing!), quakelive demos, and a post history on the site which shows some kind of invested interest in the main interests of the site which are chronologically time stamped.

Up until last week you had about 60-70 posts across 3+ years, of which you're now taken up to 180+ in less than a week.

The irony is this all started with you being offended that I suggested join date on ESR is generally linked to a lack of pedigree in quake, and look at what we got from you?

A ghost whose biggest contribution to ESR is explaining why he's not going to tell you anything about his gaming past for a fraction of his time on this planet.

"ESR join date is a poor metric of skill or experience with the game. You can talk about statistics all you want, but those won't tell you shit about an individual that all you know about is their ESR join date."

Generally speaking most of the best players in quake have a long history on ESR. That's just a fact which can be easily verified by getting the data for the top 20 quakers from this century and cross referencing.

I have no reason to believe that is untrue for lesser skilled players either. There are tons of great players out there on this site which are not quite pro, but very close. Yes there are some great players who joined quite late, but generally speaking, there is a definite correlation between talent and join date here. Which is what this whole thing started over and you protested to.

Secondly, join date does tell me shit because if I see a fellow gamer whose been around since quake 3, quake 4, Quakelive (as I have with some people here), that shows me they are a true player and a fan. I don't care how skilled they are, I care that they have been around and come through the different versions and been there when all the cool things were happening in pro fps gaming, which are not so common these days.

So for you to sit there and tell a vet it does not mean shit, is hilarious to me.

You obviously think very highly of yourself, but the one thing you don't have, or can fake is a history to back up your shit.

You've even got what I said "originally" wrong. That quote of yours was near the very end of the thread, where I was using AnthonyJ's exact words "poor metric".

In that thread, we have FlashSoul, SmackGyver, AnthonyJ, FTY, and myself all expressing directly or indirectly that a ESR registration date isn't a really good metric for knowing things about a person. At best it shows that a person is not some big name---and even then there are exceptions.

If you have anything to add to the debate, post it there instead of trying to get me to duplicate the same arguments here.

If the responses you got were somehow flawed, why don't you go there and point out how.

Oh by the way, what I originally protested to was you saying Pill_ had no right to call himself a "quake purist" because of his registration date, nothing at all about talent. But if you want to go there, I know some very talented quake players who started QL after I did, and I have no doubt they could destroy you in the game.

If anyone around here thinks highly of himself, it is clearly you---with your elitist, old boys club mentality and thinking that just because you have old ESR account, you are something special.

If ESR registration date meant anything at all, you'd actually have some achievements or contributions in the quake community. The fact that you posted thousands of comments on this website while doing the same thing as many others who did not post and were just playing the game does not make you special.

"If ESR registration date meant anything at all, you'd actually have some achievements or contributions in the quake community."

Yet a day or so ago you said...

"Since I haven't read all 25,000 of your posts on this site and individually verified all the claims you've made about yourself, I pretty much know nothing about you as well."

You admitted you know nothing me, have not read all of my posts, yet are saying I have contributed nothing which by defintion you would have to know everything I have said here to say with any kind of credibility, which you took away from yourself by admitting you've not read all I wrote.

How that's working out for you ace?

You did a similar thing a few days ago when you said...

17th March

"Y'know, I like you, Jamerio. Your posts are usually amusing, so let's not continue this pointless debate and spare everyone a huge off-top diversion in this thread."

Then took it back a few days later by saying...

"Since I haven't read all 25,000 of your posts on this site and individually verified all the claims you've made about yourself, I pretty much know nothing about you as well."

Its perfectly clear that you'll say anything you keep yourself to be seen as in the discussion, but to anyone whose keeping track of what you said, you're all over the place.

"There is a difference between casually browsing a website, noticing a guy called Jamerio regularly going on long-winded rants, and finding it amusing, and actually knowing anything about that person, especially if I am to use the same criteria for the verification of your claims as you use on me.

Absolutely none of the claims you have made that I have read have been verified in the way you want my claims verified."

Stop repeating yourself.

And just so we're clear. I HAVE read a lot of your posts---obviously not all 25,000, but the point is none of your claims have been proven (so using your logic, "for all we know you could be a 60 year old tranny"), which is what you expect me to do for an ENTIRELY TRIVIAL CLAIM, i.e. that I played id software games since the 90s.

Now I wait for you to inform me of your achievements and contributions in quake that you surely must have owing to your having an old ESR account.

"Now I wait for you to inform me of your achievements and contributions in quake that you surely must have owing to your having an old ESR account."

My contributions are being part of the quake scene which like other members here are the reason you still have a scene and esreality to talk to today. Because without users debating and sharing advice and enthusiasm, the site would be dead and the powers that be would have considered it a dead project. Long before you joined.

The site would continue without the best quake player on it, it would not continue without its users.

There is nothing you can say which explains why you have no hisotry in the quake scene, relative to the one you claim exists.

I played doom in 95 at college (and had it on atari Jaguar), I played if for about 5 mins before I got kicked off, but I wouldn't try and palm myself off as someone who was there on dwango, playing thresh and all that shit to boost my epenis.

When I was a teenager I snuck into the university so I can find out information on alt.games.sf2 and all that shit. Enthusiasts of games want to converse about them. If had internet and pc and the net back then as it has been for over 15 years, no way would I not exist.
Not even with 20% of my enthusiasm.

Even if you say you never posted, but played, I find it hard any enthusiast would not join a website to converse about the game.

I find it easy to believe someone who has shit to hide or nothing would not. As plenty of people lie on their CV about expereinces and grades they do not have.

Why should you get the same respect in the quake scene as someone whose been around for years sharing and growing the scene?

Why should you get the same respect as someone who did a phd, vs someone who dropped out at A level, but is a smooth talker?

Why should people give you that benefit of the doubt when it was you who told us the online world is full of weirdos.

You don't and you never will, that's your choice.

You'll have to put your time in like everyone else.

You don't go from around 60 posts over 3 years on esreality, to nearly 200 (mostly hundreds of word a post) in the space of a week and then claim you never bothered posting in the past.

Or as you claim, want to keep it a secret.

If you want to keep it a secret (assuming there is one to keep a secret), then plenty of people will see past that and give you a hard time as the most likely outcome is, you're a troll who was banned, or cheated them, or have done something IRL or online and are now trapped and frustrated you have a history, but can never tell it.

Yeah, so in other words, you have no achievements in quake, and your contribution is just your posts on this site.

You say having an old ESR account makes one special, but in your case, all it really means is that you've been posting on ESR for a long time.
This makes all your talk about pro-gamers having old ESR accounts kinda irrelevant.

Yeah, I understand you're kind of a mascot around here, but posts on ESR are not the same as contribution or achievement in quake.

Keep in mind that I don't really care what you've done in the game. I'm just trying to hold you to the same standard you hold me to. If you don't like that, then you're a hypocrite.

Your standard seems to be that even the most trivial claims require proof, or they should be considered lies by default. That can easily be applied to you since over the years you have made many grand claims about yourself (y'know, shit like you saying you've made over £250,000 in royalties from games you worked on), and they have been disputed rigorously.

"There is nothing you can say which explains why you have no hisotry in the quake scene, relative to the one you claim exists."

Of course there is. I never had a reason to post here myself, and I was never a big enough figure in the quake community to warrant anyone else posting about me.

It's pretty simple to understand---because that's the only way there'd be a record: either I put it there, or someone puts it there for me.

LOL I never said I played thresh. I tried dwango, but I don't think I ever got it to work. The lag and the cost would have been horrible anyway from Australia. I played most games with a direct connection over modem to local numbers, and the rest were done with a direct serial cable connection between two computers.

"If had internet and pc and the net back then as it has been for over 15 years, no way would I not exist."

Yes, because that is your personality type. The fact you have 25,000 posts on this site proves it. You like to talk about things on public forums, and you like to get into protracted debates with people---especially on the topic of people proving their claims or you proving your claims. Here is another example:

On the other hand, I have always had an aversion to posting online. I would only talk with people in the game itself, which I have done a lot. I also bring friends out of the game and talk to them in private channels, such as steam or skype. So I can talk to people about the game without broadcasting my opinions here.

Lately, I'm breaking my own rules and posting here, but I don't post on any other site (except rarely on 4SG).
That's most likely a result of the fact that after I stopped playing the game so much, ESR became the primary means for me to keep up to date with what was going on. (There is also 4SG, but it is about 100 times more dead than ESR is.) So after a while of lurking here, I decided to make use of my account to post, once provoked by the recent QC fuss.

People lie on their CVs to get jobs. What do I have to gain from lying?
Respect? You talk about respect, but I really don't need any special respect here, and I'm happy for whatever I do get to come from the small number of posts I've made. I wasn't informing you I had played id software games all that time to get respect but rather to refute your insinuation I was insecure about my registration date.

The online world is definitely full of weirdos. I don't expect you to trust me at all. But I haven't asked you to do anything that would require trust.

What am I keeping secret? The only things I haven't told you are things that can be used to dox me. Not putting those things out there is pretty common practice on the internet. Maybe when I get enough ESR status like you have, I will be able to use it to move mountains, at which point I will have something to gain from telling all and sundry who I am. :D

I don't think your assessment of what is a likely outcome is accurate, but you will believe what you will believe. I can only assert that I am not a troll, have never cheated, was never banned, and am not a paedophile or whatever you think I am IRL.

Thanks for helping to keep ESR alive though.

I'm hoping we can wind this conversation down since it is getting boring, and everything has been said many times now.

"Yeah, so in other words, you have no achievements in quake, and your contribution is just your posts on this site."

And like i said, if people did not keep the site alive before you joined there would be no site.

Its clear your attempt at trying to wriggle out of being a ghost is to try and rubbish the people who were not, to try and reduce the distance between you and them so its an insignificant as possible.

"I don't think your assessment of what is a likely outcome is accurate, but you will believe what you will believe. I can only assert that I am not a troll, have never cheated, was never banned, and am not a pedophile or whatever you think I am IRL."

I believe that your actions are traditionally practiced by people with something to hide, I don't think you're a pedophile, I merely stated that if you're going to be mr secret, then its a double edge sword.

In the same sense you want to over compensate against protesting yourself against weirdos by remaining anon (if that's true) then I'm sure you can appreciate where I'm coming from.

People have every right to do the same towards you, and not just you, anyone who does the same as you.

Champions hype is entertaining, especially the fake gaming elitist hipsters suddenly coming out of the woodwork who claim they were at one point "really good" at Quake but couldn't pick out bloodrun if you showed them a lineup of 3 thumbnails of different maps, let alone strafe jumping while aiming at decent speed and accuracy.

The way some of these people speak on sites like say IGN talk up their Quake skills and about how impossible it is to beat Xaero on Nightmare (did it will a ball mouse on a 15 inch monitor as a preteen) and how DM17 is the deepest and best duel map and that fatal1ty is the GOAT.

I hope this Sacrifice will bring more than just fragging to the table. I mean the match must tell some story to the audience. Just watching outstanding aim performance of pro players is not enough. In other team games or Quake Duel you follow the players struggling to take control, build stack or whatever by playing sneaky mind games. If Sacrafice is just about who scores more eventually protecting Quad damage I don't think it would be enough entertainment value in it.

In Q3/QL TDM I always enjoyed watching games on maps with 2 powerups because it added like another dimension of strats involved. Good teams where able to protect 2 powerups or at least deny enemy taking one in their control area. We will see :)